Tess's Inktober Comic

Hi! I thought I'd post my Inktober project here. I'm following the official prompt list and doing a continuous story line. My style and execution are a bit all over the place, but learning a lot with this project. I love being apart if Inktober and seeing what everyone else is coming up with and it's cool seeing all the different styles you can achieve with ink.

To any of you who may have seen some of my Inktober stuff on Instagram, do you think the descriptions I've been adding are a good thing? Or should I just post the picture and not add to the story with words?

"To any of you who may have seen some of my Inktober stuff on Instagram, do you think the descriptions I've been adding are a good thing? Or should I just post the picture and not add to the story with words?"

Hey, Tess. It depends on your goal. I think you should ask yourself, "Do I need words to convey the message." If the answer is no, then leave them out. Less is more, really--silence is beautiful in its own way. Words can draw too much attention to themselves, especially if the text is an afterthought, and ruin the experience of developing a personal interpretation about the story based on illustrations alone (I find it more interesting without words, personally.) However, if the answer is yes, you might have details that improve the story that can't be conveyed visually. Some of the details that you might want to include, such as names, descriptions, etc., are really not that important. Other text such as the gender of the swordbearer "might" be more important since it is not implicit in the illustrations, but may have significance to the story. Dialogue tends to be more important in comics than descriptions.

Hope that helps with your decision! The comic looks great by-the-way, I'm following along the whole way!

I really enjoy looking at these and applaud anyone who can maintain a narrative throughout the course of the month. I wanted to do that but waited till the last minute and did not plan anything out. When October 1st came around I was stuck without anything I was comfortable trying to continue. So each day I'm throwing new things at the wall still waiting for something to stick. I'm looking forward to following your story and seeing your new illustrations as the month goes along.

I don't have Instagram so I can't follow there. Do you post them on twitter?

@cory-shaw Thanks for your help- really really good points. I think I've set it up in a way where I don't need words to convey the story and thinking it over, I don't think I need any more details to be revealed through text. It was hard for me to know if my images were clear enough or not, so I added the descriptions as a precaution. I think I'll skip the extra words from now on.

@Jon-Anderson Aw, maybe next year you can make it work. I think there's value in doing it both ways- planned out vs more spontaneous. Hopefully you'll get something out of it this year. Are you posting your Inktober online? Can I see it somewhere? I'm not on twitter yet, but I'll post the rest here.

@evilrobot Thanks! I'm not confident enough yet to know if my images are able to convey the message I want, so it's encouraging to hear that you can follow the story. Thanks for the feedback!

@tessw Thanks for posting yours here so we can enjoy them. As for mine, I've only posted on Facebook and twitter thus far. I just recently joined twitter and have been holding out on Instagram though I probably should take the plunge as I see that a lot of artist are using the platform.

Wonderful work Tessa I think the pictures are strong enough to tell the story-it is very clear what is happening and so well thought out.I look forward to seeing the rest of the story.I left Inktober too late and will never catch up,but I feel I have learned something and I am really just messing about and experimenting with ink so it is enjoyable.

Hey Tess, Just saw your latest post on instagram and you have stopped the storyline. I was enjoying following along the story. Were you finding it too much to illustrate and write the story? Really enjoying your illustrations...great work on this challenge!

@elaine-b Thanks Elaine. It wasn't too hard, the descriptions were easy to write- I'm just trying to tell the story in the best way possible. I wasn't sure if the writing was getting too cheesy or excessive. Here's the description I would have put for the last one-

. . .the Gigantic Night-Grinner had awoken for it's yearly feeding frenzy. The village who had been tasked to pay it tribute had been destroyed months before by The Three. And now- what. . . or who would satisfy it's smiling hunger?

I probably would have just left the "Run" illustration without a description anyway.

I'm torn about the description. I think for some days it works, and for other's I think it's better left without a description. The next panel might need a description, because I'm not sure if it will be clear what's happening- because it's an action scene that has to happen in one image. I'll have to think on it more.